Real estate is an exciting business.  You get to be your own boss, make your own schedule, and you have the opportunity to make a wonderful living.  As you get into your real estate career and grow beyond just getting referrals, you realize that you will need to do marketing in order to get business each and every month.

For many real estate agents doing marketing means advertising about themselves.  This can range from putting out postcards with their picture on it, to taking out a magazine ad that encourages new people to use them because they are “honest and hardworking”.  Advertising about one’s self is looked at as “branding” which results in so few calls (if any) that agents just cancel the advertising.  After all, with no calls you won’t get any   business so it’s just too expensive to do marketing…right?

Wrong!

In order to generate business from your real estate marketing efforts it is important to put the consumer first.  Your next buyer or seller doesn’t care about you, they care about the benefits that you can provide to them.  There are two major benefits that you can focus on that will make your phone ring and bring more clients through your doors

1. Time – Time is finite so saving people time is paramount to making your phone ring with new clients.  For a seller this can mean selling their home faster than the rest of the market so they can move on to their next location.  For a buyer you can save them time by giving them access to the latest homes with your local MLS (hint: offer to send the just the homes they are looking for to save them more time).

2. Money – When you offer to save people money you will have clients begging for the opportunity to work with you.  You could have a marketing message for your sellers that mention you sell homes closer to the list price than the average in the area.  The more specific the better (i.e. I can sell your home for 1.5% more than the average in the neighborhood and that puts $4,000 more in your pocket).  Buyers also like to save money so consider offering them the opportunity to save on a purchase by mentioning how far below list price you can help them get a home.  A great example is “I will help you save 5% on the purchase of your home or I give you $500”.  Make it specific and you will stand apart from the crowd.

Making your phone ring in real estate is about standing out from the crowd with real estate marketing that meets the needs of your next customer.  The less your ad is about you and the more it is about how you will benefit your next buyer or seller the more transactions you will close.

By James Bridges of Online Real Estate Success

James Bridges is a co-founder and coact at Online Real Estate Success where they offer real estate marketing, training, and coaching programs for real estate professionals who want to succeed with online marketing. Programs are all step-by-step for quick implementation and fast results. Every aspect of online real estate marketing are provided from search engine optimization, pay per click, lead conversion, real estate blogging and more.